MOSCOW - Russia demanded new Western security pledges September 2 after Turkey said it envisioned hosting an early warning radar as part of NATO's missile defense system for Europe.
The Russian foreign ministry said Turkey's radar plan would mark another step in the deployment "of the European segment of a global U.S. missile defense system".
Washington has previously argued that such written pledges are not needed because they are inherent in the language of the two sides' existing nuclear disarmament agreement.NATO's decision to push ahead with plans for a European missile defense shield despite Russia's objects has been one of the main irritants of the "reset" in relations agreed by Moscow and Washington in 2009.
Russia fears that the shield could make its nuclear forces redundant. But NATO argues that the system can only defend against small nuclear arsenals that may one day be developed by states such as Iran.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said after May talks with U.S. President Barack Obama that an ultimate solution to the long-running row over missile defense may not happen until after 2020
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